


loneliness increases as days go by

by April (featherx)



Series: but in the end I will always come back to you [15]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Parents, F/M, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 03:04:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10630842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/featherx/pseuds/April
Summary: Junmyeon meets the mother of his son's new best friend. (Single Parents AU)





	

**Author's Note:**

> again, thanks to C.

The spring breeze and the chirping of birds is honestly relaxing enough that Junmyeon almost falls asleep, right then and there on the park bench. Thankfully, he catches himself on time and blinks the grogginess from his eyes. Chanyeol hadn’t gone to sleep easy last night, and neither had he, by extension.

Speaking (thinking) of Chanyeol, where was the little rascal? Junmyeon sits up straighter in some effort to sweep the sleepiness away, and scours the playground with half-closed eyes. It takes him a good, panicky minute, but then he finally finds his kid practically buried from the waist down in the sandpit. There’s a girl standing over him, digging with her bare hands to get him out while the kid looks like he’s having the time of his life.

Junmyeon has no idea whether he should intervene or not. After a moment, he decides they’re probably in no real danger in a sandpit and tries to remember where he had left off in his book. Not two seconds after he replaces his page when someone else takes a seat next to him – not too close, but on the same bench nevertheless.

He looks up, and is ready to give a polite smile before returning to his book, but then his hand slips and he loses his page again because _hey, doesn’t this woman look a lot like that girl over there?_ “Good morning,” he says, instead of voicing that aloud.

The woman blinks. She looks just as sleepy as he does, if not more. “Mornin’. Quick question, but is he your kid?” She points at Chanyeol, who is currently attempting to eat sand while the girl is frantically yelling at him to stop. Chanyeol seems to have become temporarily deaf, which does not surprise Junmyeon in the least.

“Er… yes. Is she yours, then?”

The little girl is flapping her arms wildly. Chanyeol makes a huffy sound and throws sand at her face, which seems to be an all-out declaration of war, as the girl hefts a huge pound of sand in her arms and dumps it on his head. Junmyeon vaguely hopes he doesn’t start suffocating.

“Yup.” The woman grins. She’s pretty, Junmyeon guesses. Or maybe that’s the sleep-addled part of his brain thinking. “They look like best friends. Hey, name’s Max.” She sticks out her hand, and Junmyeon takes it, smiling back. She’s friendly, for a change. Kyungsoo’s father had been somewhat terrifying and had made Junmyeon want to crawl under the covers for days.

“Junmyeon.” It takes both of them a second longer than usual to retract their hands, but Junmyeon honestly doesn’t mind. Her hand is warm, anyway, and it’s a nice contrast with the cool wind. “Nice to meet you. What’s your daughter’s name?”

“Chesqa. Or, well, her full name’s pretty long, but she likes Chesqa the most.” Max cracks a little grin. “Her dad…” And then all of a sudden she trails off, the smile sliding off her face in a flash. She sighs, shakes her head. “Never mind. How about yours?”

_Oh. Single mother?_ Junmyeon thinks vaguely. _Then she’s like me, huh._ “Chanyeol. I know he doesn’t look anything like me, but that’s because he got all his looks from his mom.”

Max gives him a look. It’s not a suspicious look or anything along those lines, but it’s certainly a look. “That so?”

“Yeah.” A pause. “Shame she won’t see him when he grows up anymore.”

Max leans back against the bench, one arm resting on the armrest. There’s a bit of silence, where Junmyeon lets his words sink in, until Max says, “Same here.” And that’s all she really needs to say for them to almost feel like they’ve got a connection already.

Aside, of course, from their children, who are now both engaged in the most intense sand war Junmyeon has ever seen. Of course, that’s not exactly saying much when this is one of the first times he had the time to bring Chanyeol to the playground, but he’s fairly sure most sand wars don’t usually include his son lying face-down on the sand and slowly sinking into it again. Chesqa is standing over him with a shovel in her hand, sand in her hair, and looking utterly victorious.

“Hey, should I stop her?” Max asks, after a while of just staring at the bloody scene. “I mean, Chanyeol looks…”

“Dead? Nah, it’s fine. That’s one thing he took after me.” Junmyeon stands up, smiling at Max, who blinks in mild confusion before following him to the sand pit.

When Chesqa notices, she brightens and runs over to her mother, wielding her shovel like it’s a war weapon. “Mom! Guess what, I killed a monster today!”

“I’m _not_ a monster,” Chanyeol whines, voice muffled by the sand. Junmyeon pulls him up by the collar, not too roughly, and Chanyeol coughs and hacks out multitudes of sand that had gotten in his mouth. “ _Dad_ , she was bullying me!”

“Was not, and you know it.”

“Hey!”

“You started it!”

“Alright, alright,” Max sighs, picking sand grains out of Chesqa’s hair, “calm down, kids, you can play again tomorrow. Chesqa, Mom’s gotta go to work now, and I can’t leave you here alone.”

Chesqa puffs her cheeks out. “Okay, fine, but when’s Dad coming back? Didn’t you say he was going away for a long time? When he comes back, I’ll get to stay here as long as I like ‘cause he’ll be there, right?”

Max is silent when she dusts more sand off of Chesqa’s clothes. Chanyeol, thankfully enough, doesn’t say anything, just latches on to Junmyeon’s hand and looks up at him, mouth pressed into a thin line. Junmyeon ruffles his hair, not sure what to say.

“Your dad’s,” Max starts, and doesn’t seem to know how to continue.

Then Chanyeol pipes up with a, “My dad can be your dad!”

It is with great effort that Junmyeon has to resist the urge to bury his face in his hands. Chesqa turns to face Chanyeol, Junmyeon, and then Chanyeol again. “Um, _what?_ ”

“Look, Yeol—” Junmyeon attempts, but as always, his own kid cuts him off.

“Not _permanent_ dad, _duh_ , it’d be _gross_ to be your sister. But just a half-dad!” Now looking at Max, Chanyeol pushes his chest out and offers his tiny hand. “Hi, Chesqa’s mom. I’m Chanyeol. This is my dad.”

Max looks highly amused when she bends down to shake his hand, but there’s a little crease in between her eyebrows that Junmyeon can tell means that she hasn’t been doing the whole _single mother_ thing for long. “Hi, Chanyeol. It’s great to meet you.”

“Right. As I was _saying_ , half-dad! If you really want your dad back, we can’t help you with that, but we can have a half-dad. A part-dad. A temporary dad!” Chanyeol looks shyly up at Max, and then says, voice a little lower but none less excited, “And… you can be my half-mom?”

Junmyeon and Max share a look that, in Junmyeon’s humble opinion, conveys more than words. It’s somewhat impressive, considering they’ve known each other for a grand total of ten minutes, but Chesqa and Chanyeol already look inseparable. “Well,” Max says slowly, giving Junmyeon a somewhat panicky look, “I don’t know…”

Chesqa huffs, but it’s halfhearted at best. “I _guess_ it sounds alright,” she offers. She gives Junmyeon an appraising look that Junmyeon can’t help but smile a bit at. Chesqa smiles back, which really reminds Junmyeon of the woman right next to him. “You look nice, mister. I’m Chesqa.”

“Junmyeon,” he introduces. He looks over at Max, who still looks unsure, but is giving Junmyeon a meaningful look which he hopes he’s not interpreting wrong. “Well, I’d be fine with it if you are. And at least these little guys won’t get so bored around the house.”

Then Max smiles, and it’s the most radiant sight Junmyeon has ever seen. It’s practically _blinding_ , he swears. “You know what? Maybe you’re right. My new half-husband.” A short pause, and then she laughs, and it doesn’t even sound forced. “This is going to take a while to get used to.”

**Author's Note:**

> one more day!!!


End file.
